ramseymav1 wrote:
Dismissing allegations of racism as just a "turn of phrase" or disagreement is part of the problem. Making that the issue of conversation (including the arguments over ice creams or whatever) rather than what she's speaking out about is part of the problem.
Whether she's disclosed the issues on Neighbours before or not is beyond the point. Sharon has felt that she needs to speak out and fair play to her.
Not really. Most screaming about "racism" haven't actually experienced anything of the sort "You people" could just as easily mean "those who play the race card at every disagreement" as it could refer to those of a different race. Context is everything. We don't know the context. We have an abstract example and many have simply accepted this. It's a very dangerous thing to do.
And for the record I have experienced actual racism. Attacks on the street. All the usual slanders and slurs. And let me tell you that going into the garden as a child to feed the pets as a daily chore only to find those pets slaughtered and hung on the washing line with their entrails draped around just to lend a jolly, festive air, is something of an education, as is being regularly woken from sleep by bricks through the window or being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and hauled into the back yard by a mother because some lunatic has poured petrol through the letter box and ignited it.
And then moving to a predominantly black/Asian neighbourhood and having it all start again only this time for entirely the opposite reason. I was 14 years old before we finally found a place where I could sleep soundly through the night.
Another common misconception .That racism is a one way street - White on "other" It's actually not. Racism is like any prejudice. A fear of "different". It's just as rampant in all directions which is why even in so called multicultural societies, like bands with like and we end up with whole districts comprised of single ethnic groups, forming "tribes". It's human nature, and despite a certain intellectual development we haven't overcome this instinctive behaviour at all.
Our intellectualism of the problem causes the PC guilt trips that stop us discussing it rationally. I point out a turn of phrase can easily be interpreted in two ways at least and that is immediately dismissed as "part of the problem. Actually the converse is true.
Part of our modern societal problem now is this constant guilt tripping and delineating norm that has come from the American dunderheaded thinking that tries to pander to the politically correct. The most obvious is the term "African-American" which many segments of the black community there are complaining about because they are West Indian, Cuban and even Central and South American. They resent being branded as other than they are. The very terms - "African-American" "Italian-American" "Irish-American" "Polish-American" etc etc etc serve only to emphasise the lines separating all. It officially tribalises an entire nation which cannot help but give rise to rivalries, and any perceived conflict becomes an "ism".
The most intelligent single phrase ever used on the subject came at the fall of Apartheid in South Africa, when Mandela became president. He was asked if he would seek retribution against the former regime and the white population generally, and he replied simply "Equality is not found at the end of a swinging pendulum."
We have failed to learn this lesson entirely and thanks to an American led "movement" as ignorant and stupid as the uneducated and polarised population, that pendulum has actually picked up momentum ensuring that, generationally, resentment will breed resentment, backlash will follow backlash and these conflicts will never cease.
The fact that we can't even now dare to point out that someone is being oversensitive to what may well be a misinterpreted turn of phrase, or could be playing a card to gain some kind of advantage merely serves to demonstrate that we are now in a place where some social ethnic or gender groups are considered sacrosanct and off limits to any kind of critical examination.
Johal has been for a number of years a major cast member of a show that has sought to entirely normalise mixed race, same sex and transgender relationships. She herself released a gushing farewell press release on her departure.
You'll forgive me for viewing her sudden accusations of prejudice with a healthy critical eye.
